PinePhone

Probable specifications of Phase 3 (the shipping phone) of PinePhone were posted by tllim and lukasz of @PINE64 on the #pinephone IRC channel on 2019-02-21. Subsequent details have come from the Pine64 forum, @thepine64 on Twitter, @PINE64 here on the UBPorts forum, and now the Pine64 wiki entry for Phase 3 of the PinePhone.

I haven't yet gotten the hang of text formatting on this forum so not sure how to add colored text, so I'm putting my annotations in bolded italics.

Dimensions 160.5mm x 76.6mm x 9.2mm thick

Weight between 180g and 200g

Screen type: IPS capacitive, 16M colors

Screen size: 5.95" 1440x720, 18:9 aspect ratio

Screen surface still hardened glass, NOT plastic

The LCD panel that will soon be delivered on the Phase 2 dev kits is the same as the PinePhone LCD panel but smaller (5.7" vs. 6.0").

LTE bands 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 18, 19, 20, 25*, 26, 28, 38, 39, 40, 41. Per this post by tllim on the Pine64 forum, the modem will be soldered in place in order to keep the phone thin. *probable, per the Wiki and @PINE64's post below.

VoLTE support obviously this depends on both software support (Ubuntu Touch does not currently support VoLTE) and carrier support (e.g., AT&T in the US currently restricts VoIP to a small list of devices, though rumors say they will open VoLTE to all BYO devices by then end of 2019).

Wifi: 802.11 b/g/n, single-band, hotspot capable

Bluetooth: 4.0, A2DP

Chipset: Allwinner A64

CPU: Quad-core 1.2 GHz ARM Cortex A-53

GPU: MALI-400

Memory: 2-3GB LDRR3 / 16-64GB eMMC

micro SD supporting SDHC and SDXC. Will be bootable so you can test an OS build without erasing the eMMC (Source)

Edited post to remove mention of a potential upgrade in specs. Let us see what happens and not put any pressure on Pine64 one way or another.

The hardware privacy kill switches will be placed inside the case, meaning you'll need to peel off the back of the case to access. This prevents accidental switch off. this tweet refers to the case back as easily removable. tllim later posted on IRC "back case can peel off using finger nail."

Samsung J7 3000mAh battery - "they are reliable, relatively inexpensive and easily attainable in most places we checked ... they will also be around for quite some time." A higher capacity batter in the same form may be possible.

Battery is easy to replace, so that user also can carry a spare battery.

No glue - disassembleable with only a screwdriver.

SIM and micro SD card slot also located inside phone

GNSS: GPS, GPS-A, GLONASS EG25-G appears to have additional capabilities, but let us not count on them for now.

Two open-to-all production-runs in 2019, in October and November, will ship without an installed OS to “Brave Heart” enthusiasts capable of installing the OS themselves; these should ship in November and December, respectively.

Large scale production in March, 2020, by which time at least one OS is expected to be ready.

You're welcome. Me too. I pre-ordered the Ubuntu Edge (RIP) and Librem 5 in the first hours of their crowdfunding, but they were both too expensive to attract casual interest. Quite apart from my own interest in it, the PinePhone looks to be the non-Android Linux phone I'll finally be able to recommend to people less willing to gamble much money on unfamiliar and still-developing hardware/software stacks.

@PINE64
Camera quality is important for me, that's why I switched back to Samsung S8 with Android, after using the Ubuntu phone for many years.
If the video quality is poor, it's useless for me and I always have to carry two phones, or a phone and an extra camera.

@WLBI Without even knowing the details that @advocatux asked for (I'll hear back from China office on Monday), I can tell you now that in terms of photo quality (hardware) the PinePhone will be no match for your Samsung S8. I expect picture quality to be closer to the iphone 5 -- some of this obviously depends on software, which is something I cannot comment on.

@ernest We're working with many different projects to deliver a number of Linux OS'. The Phone will sell with an OS - we currently aim to ship the PinePhone with Ubuntu Touch. But as with any FOSS hardware, you'll be able to install whatever you want from from the OS' that will be available and more (you can run a standard desktop Linux for instance ... for whatever reason).

@PINE64 I have seen the specifications of the phone, I like it very much. I particularly don't like high-end phones, but I do like a minimum in phone hardware,
i use two sim cards, one for my work and one for private use. many people do the same as me, now i use a Bq E 4.5 and i am delighted,

An excessively large screen is annoying, I think I would stick with the 5.7 inch screen, and it's big.

I think that to have good family photos you need a 13 Mpx or 16 Mpx camera.

I also think that makes the product more expensive, that's normal, I'd pay 200€ or 240€ for those specifications, like mid-high range mobile phones.

@domubpkm There will be world-wide shipping. As for RAM - the SOC supports up-to 3GB of LPDDR3 memory. So yes, in theory there could be more, but lets see if the devs are content with the current specs. If we buy more RAM then we will have to spend less on other components, so if the experience is solid with 2GB of RAM then its better to spend the money on better plastic, LCD panels, battery, etc., I hope this makes sense.

@Josele13 as @UniSuperBox said, lets take one step at a time. We think that the best chance to have a significant adoption of the PinePhone (and exposure to Linux on a phone in general) is by making a solid device, that performs well, and is inexpensive. As it currently stands, even the majority of Linux enthusiasts do not consider Linux on a Phone as a replacement for their iOS or Android daily driver - this is the reality of things. There is, however, a good chance that the same people will be willing to pick up the PinePhone... even if its just out of curiosity. This in turn will lead to exposure to the Linux phone OS platform such as Ubuntu Touch and help it grow.
The more people interested, the bigger the market, the more reasonable it is to create a higher-end device One thing at a time.

Is there a way to confirm that the Pinephone will work as well "out of the box" as my Nexus 5 running Ubuntu Touch? In other words, would I be losing any functionality by switching to it when it comes out?